Archie

Clipping of Archibald +‎ -ie.

The sense “anti-aircraft artillery” is said to be from airmen dodging hostile fire and shouting “Archibald, certainly not”, the refrain of a then popular music hall song of the same name first performed by George Robey in 1911.^[1][2][3][4] This habit probably originated with the pilot and commander Amyas Borton (1886–1969).^[3][4]

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːt͡ʃi/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹt͡ʃi/
• Rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)t͡ʃi

Archie

1. A diminutive of the male given name Archibald, from the Germanic languages, also used as a formal given name.
2. (rare) A female given name.

• → Scottish Gaelic: Eairdsidh

Archie (countable and uncountable, plural Archies)

1. (military slang, World War I, uncountable) Anti-aircraft artillery.
   • 2012, Pat Kelleher, The Alleyman, →ISBN:

     But then, dodging airbursts of Archie on the Western Front hadn't exactly been a joyride either.

   • 2013, Tyrrel M. Hawker, Hawker VC- The First RFC Ace: The Life of Major Lanoe Hawker VC DSO: 1890-1916., →ISBN:

     He was seen by an aeroplane, our Archie gunner and a whole division to crash in their lines just opposite our trenches, much jubilation and more congratulations.

   • 2014, Martin Bowman, Lost Wings of WWI: Downed Airmen on the Western Front 1914-1918, →ISBN:

     On a cloudy day one can hop in and out of the clouds, greatly to the annoyance of some Archie commander who, just when he has got range and direction and is about to let fly, finds that his bird has disappeared into a cloud. He fills thatcloud with HE but his quarry emerges from another nearby with a gesture of derision which the gunners below may imagine, though cannot see. On a sunny day, Archie is up early, for he knows that aircraft will be silhouetted against a blue sky. Then the experienced pilot hops in and out of the sun, there being no clouds, while the Archie commander rubs his smarting eyes and uses strong words.

2. (military slang, World War I, countable) A piece of anti-aircraft ordnance.
   • 1929, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, When the World Screamed‎^[4]:

     An inquisitive aeroplane, which had been hovering over the scene, was picked off as by an Archie and made a forced landing, man and machine buried in filth.

   • 2016, Lieut.-Col. Harold Evans Hartney, Up And At ‘Em, →ISBN:

     Quickly our five machines dodged the Archies as we crossed.

• (anti-aircraft artillery): archie

Clipping of Archimedes +‎ -ie.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈɑːki/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈɑɹki/

Archie (plural Archies)

1. (computing, informal) An Acorn Archimedes computer.
   • 1995, Classic CD, numbers 57-62:

     FOR ARCHIE USERS. At last, a powerful database with details of every track (over 700 to date) on Classic CD discs from issue 1 to the present day is available for uses of Acorn (Archimedes) computers.

   • 2005, Jonathan, “BBC Micro B and Acorn Archimedes A400 (?) to PC file transfer”, in comp.sys.acorn.networking (Usenet):

     And what about getting the data from the Archie to the PC?

• Raiche, Raîche, achier, archei, arheic, cahier, eriach